LOST MY WAY

I know……3-4 days behind…….what are you doing over there……do you actually have something else to do…….lost my way for a bit but back on track now…….here is the Estepona Lighthouse to show me the way.

Up and at em this morning with a quick ride on Wolffy before the rain shows up, and snagged a great coffee + breakfast sandwich at Las Ninas, my new morning hangout. The forecast is that it will be wet all day long.

We have nothing but time for the next two days……..a little golf break, mid-trip, and our plans are to do some scouting around at possible golf course locations for a longer stay in the future.  Our agents here, Stuart Leary……..first point of contact and the one who said “We can book tee times for you” when many others would do that only if accommodations and transportation were on the table………..and John Walker, who has been our direct point of contact  for tee times, changes, additions, deletions, etc.  Just thinking when Mr and Mrs Walker were discussing names for their new baby somewhere in England years ago, they said “Well let’s call him John, you know, like our favourite drink.  Won’t that be a hoot when he grows up?”  Yes, Johnnie Walker is our man in Costa Del Sol, and the one to call if you are in need of anything golf related.  They have both mentioned locations sort of north and east of Marbella, so we plug one into the nav and decide to go take a look.  Our Maps app has been pretty solid for the whole trip, but every once in a while she wants to take us on some pretty weird routes……….we figure it is the difference between the fastest route and the one that keeps you on an actual paved road.  Following a couple of 16 point turns on dead end single lane dirt paths we finally make it to La Cala Golf…….park illegally because at this point I don’t care anymore, and we start touring the property……….wow, is this place busy!  3 golf courses, racquet sports, pools, and tons of real estate.  I eventually have a chat with a representative in the pro shop and it turns out you ain’t playing here unless you either own property outright, or you have purchased a “share”……sounds like fractional ownership or some kind of time share to me, but either way not for us.  We are thinking more along the lines of where can I rent something for a couple of months, and who will give us a monthly membership deal………..will have to work on that one. 

Heading back towards our home turf, we decide to stop in at this big mall on the side of the freeway…….called….. La Canada……yep…….Spanish pronounciation La- Can-yah-dah meaning a glen, ravine, or cattle track……interesting.  Either way, our quick recon and stop for a quick bite determines that we are coming back here tomorrow for the full meal deal.

Tonight we are sampling the local fare at Pollo de la Mar…….a chicken place……..real simple……order a roasted bird, and you had better get your order in because they run out daily, pick up some home made coleslaw, potato salad, or green salad, and you are good to go.  Have to say it was fantastic, and all for the price of a single main course at some of the restaurants in town. 

DAY 2

Pretty relaxed morning before heading out to La Canada….the goats are pumped and ready for a big day of shopping, and swear not to go into any stores we can get at home.  This is a pretty big mall, with a full on supermarket……huge…..big department stores, and all the designers you have never heard of.  Jutta was the only one who showed up with a bag in hand when we met for a snack a few hours later, and pretty happy with the few items she had found.  Sibylle………maybe next time.

 

It was a good day to be shopping because it pissed rain most of the day, and was really heavy during the ride home……..much better weather a few days out, but big questions about whether or not to play tomorrow? We have a res tonight at the sushi place on top of Jutta’s favourite hotel in Old Town. It is still really coming down, but only a short walk from the parking lot to the hotel………we are getting good at navigating our way around Estepona!

Jutta and I are up early and raise Sibylle also, so we can give the golf club a call and see if they will be open today.  Loads of rain yesterday, and we are kind of hoping they decide to close the course, but no luck, they are open, no refunds, no rain checks.  Holy crap did we go back and forth this morning about whether or not we should play today.  I have messaged Johnnie Walker who assured us that his weather forecast was better than ours, and it was a good bet we would get most of the round in before the rain arrived.  He also mentioned that from his perspective as a guy who works with the golf clubs daily, that they are quite inflexible here in Spain, and lacking some of that good old customer service we are used to in Canada.  Their position is you have a tee time and the course is open………whether you play or not is up to you, but you are being charged either way.  We decide to play, and bring a change of clothes for Plan B.

Jutta and I scoot out for a good coffee and some breakfast at Las Ninas…….Jutta is interested to see my little hideaway. She is quietly impressed I think………coffee is great, and we share the Las Ninas three decker breakfast sandwich……it was a hit, and we just might come back for dinner one night.

Cabopino GC is the victim today…….quite a short course that has some tight holes through the houses on the front nine before opening up a little on the back.  For me most of the day was tee shot/wedge to the green (no I’m not that good, it was just that short), and front side greens were absolute crap, so we did 2 putt max.  I guess the highlight of the course was #3 with its hugely elevated tee…….fantastic views looking all the way down to the sea……..but again, good drive and 50 yds in.  The weather threatened all day, but the rain did not start until I closed the door on Little Ninja to put the clubs away…….perfect.

We got a message today  from Mike Cairns and Vivian who have been in Morocco on a multi GC excursion staying in Marrakech.  They have always planned to come to Spain after Morocco but have made it here a few days early so we will touch base and try to get together.  Used the trusty FaceTime to chat with those guys and set up a sightseeing trip to Malaga for tomorrow.  We will pick them up at their hotel in Marbella.

Dinner tonight was back at Eva, the beach club just down the road……..we are pronouncing it Ava because that is what the Spanish do………I am still pronouncing it Eva just to bug the shit out of Sibylle.  We already know what we are ordering when we walk in the door which is a first for this crew…….the ladies, obviously the best Greek salad in the world followed by my linguine from the other night……..me, calamari (delish) and the seafood orzo…….very tasty but I know the tomato sauce will be talking to me most of the night. 

Claudio was our waiter once again…….fantastic service…….and Sibylle booked a table for later this week when Cosgrove’s arrive…….Cairns will hopefully join from Marbella, so we will have quite a little Collingwood gang here in Estepona.  

I just have to mention one more thing although I might get my kneecaps broken………two tables behind us at Eva were a group of men……like 8 guys…….black was the only color anyone wore……plenty of leather, no drinks or food on the table…….just one table directly behind us was a single gent, just sitting and watching, umbrella in hand and shoulder bag just revealed under his raincoat………he jumped into action when the meeting started to break up and was obviously a bodyguard for one of the dudes. I’m pretty sure this wasn’t Al Pacino or anything…….this was the real deal. I have read some history about the Irish organized crime families coming to the Costa Del Sol to hide out because of the lack of an extradition treaty with Spain (very interesting stuff) but these guys were not fair skinned redheads and there would have been drinks on the table if they were Irish.